French Alps avalanche kills at least 6

At least six people were dead in an avalanche in eastern France, local media reported.

The avalanche swept down the Armancette glacier in the Alps on Sunday, French Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin wrote on Twitter.

Rescue teams were dispatched to the site.

Among the six dead included two guides. According to the daily Le Figaro, one person was injured while eight others escaped unharmed.

Local authorities said that the exact number of hiking groups and skiers is unknown and that the rescue operations continued.

The avalanche was 500 metres (1,640 feet) wide and descended 1,600 metres (5,249 feet), local authorities said, adding that the country's weather authority Meteo France did not expect an avalanche for that day.

One eyewitness told France Television that she was hiking just in front of the Armancette glacier when she saw the avalanche happening and took out her phone to film it.

"I had put the phone in front of me, but then I was looking with my eyes more than in the lens and suddenly there was a huge, huge, huge cloud that came down to the bottom, it split into two," she said.

"I think of the families, I think of the people, of those who got out of it, who had the fright of their life, of those who are still there."

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